Do Micromanagers Trust their employees?



Managers are often promoted because they were good at being individual contributors. They often struggle with trust because they equate control with success. Their mindset is rooted in the belief that if they don't oversee every detail, something will go wrong.

This fear can steam from past experiences where delegation led to mistakes, or from a perfectionist tendency that makes it hard to accept anything less than their person standard. In many cases, micromanagers aren't trying to be overbearing. They are trying to protect outcomes, reputations and even their own sense of competence.

If they do not "let go" of being an expert, they can become micromanagers. The kind of leader that no one wants to work for because they don't seem to trust their employees.

Micromanagers delegate the task but check on the details and get in the way with "the right way" to do it.

Micromanagers can learn to trust their employees by clearly stating the outcomes and measures of success and then letting the employees make their own decisions on how to achieve those outcomes. There may be mistakes along the way, but that is one way employees learn.

Micromanagers benefit from coaching. A coach can help them reflect upon their own behavior and understand its impact.

Great managers let go of the details and trust their employees. Micromanagers can learn to trust, it takes clarity and practice. Letting go isn't about abandoning responsibility. It's about redistributing it wisely.

When micromanagers learn to trust their employees they unlock higher performance, stronger relationships and a more resilient organization.

Think you might be a micromanager? Do you have difficulty letting your team decide on the steps to reach the outcomes?

Want to move up to being a strategic leader? Want to think strategically instead of on the details?

Contact me!